Setting up surveillance downtown

by Rebecca Kanable On Feb 1, 2008

A local politician thinks setting up CCTV surveillance cameras is a good idea for making the downtown and city parks safer. To help make his idea become reality, he knows he can depend on financial support from a community foundation. In another community, the police chief sees surveillance cameras working well for other police departments and wants to apply for a federal grant to bring CCTV to his community. Regardless of who thinks of the idea, it's essential politicians, law enforcement commanders and the citizens they serve work together if they want CCTV to succeed.

When implemented with a well-thought plan and used properly, CCTV can potentially be a real force multiplier for law enforcement agencies of any size, says Dr. Jerry Ratcliffe, author of "Video Surveillance of Public Places," a guide funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (See www.popcenter.org/Responses/response-surveillance.htm).

Cost-effective crime reduction?

Expectations of surveillance camera systems must be realistic. If they are not, the technology is only being set up to fail. CCTV is not a one-size-fits-all solution for preventing and solving crime. Law enforcement agencies must evaluate whether or not CCTV systems are truly in focus with their needs and doable in their municipalities. A 2006 nationwide Harris Poll reported 67 percent of adults favor expanded camera surveillance on streets and in public places. But in some communities, the public's concerns about privacy will prevent the use of CCTV in public locations.

To help agencies determine whether or not CCTV is a good idea, Ratcliffe says agencies must ask themselves:

"What types of crime are we trying to prevent and is there a more cost-effective way to achieve long-term crime prevention?"

CCTV can work well to prevent crime in small, well-defined areas such as public parking lots, he says, but improved lighting, increased security, and better parking barriers and control mechanisms work equally well. And, he says the ongoing cost for police departments is much less.

Maximizing the benefits of a surveillance system requires ongoing maintenance (which can be included with the initial installment) and personnel costs (which vary depending on whether an agency is monitoring video 24/7 or only looking at the video after a crime has occurred).

Rather than looking at CCTV as the only tool available to prevent all crime, Ratcliffe, an associate professor with the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University in Philadelphia, says law enforcement agencies should review a range of crime prevention tactics.

Conversely, he points out a misconception exists among law enforcement that CCTV cameras don't do a lot of good. Ratcliffe explains why cameras can be effective: When offenders know the cameras are there, they realize that if they commit a crime, they will be caught on video; and the risk of capture outweighs the benefits of the crime.

Another misconception is that cameras just move crime around the corner from where a camera is installed. That generally is not the case, he says.

"The research suggests that if you put a camera on a corner, the benefits of that camera can often spread to surrounding streets the camera can't see [because the offender is not necessarily aware of that]," he says.

A diffusion of benefits is more likely than displacement, he says, although displacement can be beneficial, too.

"If you prevent offenders from committing crime at their favorite, chosen location, they may go somewhere else," explains Ratcliffe, who publishes and lectures on environmental criminology. "But if they go to their second choice, they may not be able to commit as much crime. If you move them from their second location to their next choice, they may commit even less crime there, so you can actually reduce crime."

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, for example, surveillance cameras have had a big impact on street robberies. In the first year, Minneapolis reduced robberies by 44 percent and thefts from motor vehicles by 14 percent where cameras were set up downtown.

Combating high-crime areas

To reduce crime, cameras need to be set up in the highest level crime areas. "There's really no point in putting cameras in low-crime areas," says Ratcliffe.

Yet, he has seen that happen when camera placement is based on politics rather than crime analysis.

"It can be a real millstone around the neck of a small police department if closed circuit TV cameras are implemented in places where they are not really needed," Ratcliffe warns. "Once you bring in the camera systems and tell people you have CCTV, it's really difficult to remove them. The public and politicians will never accept that you are removing the CCTV cameras. Once you have the cameras, you're stuck with them."

Instead of being force multipliers, they create more work.

When cameras are set up in a location where public disorder often erupts, officer safety can benefit. CCTV can provide officers a heads-up as they talk by radio to an officer monitoring the cameras or officers can see for themselves what's taking place by looking at a monitor in their patrol car. Knowing in advance what they are responding to helps prepare officers before they arrive.

The challenges of CCTV implementation

Once law enforcement agencies understand the benefits of CCTV, they must realize the challenges they may face to gain those benefits. In addition to political challenges, Gerry Wethington, vice president of Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety for Reston, Virginia-based Unisys Corporation, describes business and technology challenges.

The business challenge is aligning organizational need and capabilities with the appropriate level of technology, Wethington says. And to leverage the technologies, he adds that traditional law enforcement practice requires adaptation.

Selecting the appropriate video camera is essential, but there's more technology working behind the scenes that requires careful consideration.

Vendors can help establish an understanding of the technologies, which in basic terms will include:

various types (and qualities) of cameras,

communications and network connectivity options, and

recording capacities and capabilities.

Many factors impact technology selection. Geography, number of cameras, existing infrastructure, permits for system placement, power for field-deployed surveillance equipment and communications are all factors when implementing a surveillance system, Wethington says.

While the technology can sound complex, he says, with help, it can be the easiest of the three challenges to take on.

Technology assistance

When looking for someone to help put new technology in place, an agency should seek someone who understands (or will diligently learn) the unique technology requirements of the policing environment. It's also important that a consultant and/or systems integrator not only understands networking but how to network video technology. And lastly, to determine the best way to transmit images from one geographic location to another, a consultant or integrator must possess local engineering knowledge. A city agency that wants to install cameras on every block downtown has different needs than a rural agency looking to install a couple of cameras 10 miles apart.

Kent Huffman, chief marketing officer for BearCom Wireless Worldwide, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, says agencies should choose an integrator that is experienced with the various technologies involved, and has strong customer references.

"Also, be sure to explore the various DOT (Department of Transportation) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security) grants available to help offset the cost of the system components and installation," he says. "A good integrator can help with that part of the process as well."

"We know far less about camera technology than a lot of our corporate partners who work downtown," says Allen, co-founder of the Minneapolis SafeZone Collaborative (www.minneapolissafezone.org). "They've been doing cameras for years. It only makes sense that we talk to them and use their expertise. They've become real partners in helping us figure out how to do a camera system, how to fund it, and to train officers how to monitor video."

Allen's advice for other agencies is "you have to have community support for cameras;" and he includes businesses in his definition of community.

Before cameras are turned on, a camera monitoring policy, which addresses privacy and video retention concerns, should be made available to the public.

Monitoring the future

When used judiciously, Ratcliffe says CCTV can be an effective way to prevent crime. But, he says, he's concerned with what Gary Marx, author of "Undercover: Police Surveillance in America," has called "surveillance creep."

There seems to be a growing trend of residents running systems, and Ratcliffe says that creates potential for abuse and invasion of privacy because there's no accountability.

A former officer with the Metropolitan Police in London, he advises surveillance systems be monitored by police.

As long as police departments bring in good codes of practice and use CCTV ethically today, he says the public will continue to accept surveillance when they are in public places.

Rebecca Kanable is a freelance writer living in Wisconsin. She has been writing about law enforcement issues for approximately 10 years. She can be reached at kanable@charter.net

Dallas' first year with CCTV

The Dallas (Texas) Police Department started using CCTV cameras in its downtown for the first time about a year ago. Funding for the cameras was obtained through private grants, with the city committed to using sworn officers (retired and less-than-full-duty) to monitor the systems. From January to early December 2007, personnel monitoring the footage asked field officers 559 times to look further into events seen on camera. And, as a result, 159 arrests were made.

Overall, the greatest benefit of CCTV for the Dallas PD has been the ability to maximize resources.

"One camera operator can cover a lot more area than field officers can," Deputy Chief Brian Harvey says, noting the system can provide useable images of license plates at 300 yards.

Two Dallas PD officers monitor the cameras 24/7, with one looking at the 40 cameras set up downtown and the other viewing footage from seven cameras set up in a densely populated, mixed-use area.

Cameras are advertised on street-level signs, and the police department's badge helps identify the white boxes containing the cameras.

"These are overt cameras," Harvey says. "We want people to know they are there."

When CCTV monitoring personnel working within the communications division spot something suspicious on camera, they can lean over to a dispatcher and request that an officer be dispatched to a specific location. Once an officer arrives, the person monitoring the camera uses a radio and starts talking directly to the field officer.

Every camera has a geo-coded radius. If an offense occurs within that radius, investigators immediately want to know if any usable information was caught on video.

Each morning, the crime analysis unit gathers the geo information and it is put into a shared computer where a communications supervisor will review the data.

"If we see an offense, we want to pull out the appropriate footage, archive it and notify the follow-up investigative unit," he says. If an offense caught on video, was not originally detected by monitoring personnel, the department looks to see if the camera monitoring process can be improved.

To make room for more video storage, information is purged every two weeks. Officers must find and archive any useable information within that time.

Having had a positive experience with cameras their first year, the Dallas PD is looking to add more cameras. Downtown businesses have expressed interest in funding additional cameras, Harvey says. Hiking and biking trails as well as large athletic and entertainment venues are being looked at as other possible locations to add cameras.

Finding the right surveillance system

Decisions made upfront can prevent agencies from wasting money on a system that doesn't meet their needs. When looking at new CCTV surveillance systems, consider the following:

Focus on quality

In Preston, Maryland, (population about 550) six cameras were purchased with grant money before Robert Reed became police chief in February 2007. These older model cameras are used to monitor a busy traffic intersection, and Reed says he wishes they were more sophisticated. "You really have to be careful when you buy a system," he says. "Paying a little extra for the system will be well worth it when you're trying to solve a crime."

Some of the newest technologies may not be a good fit for a given set of needs, says Frank Abram, vice president and general manager, SANYO Security Products Division. "It's best to carefully evaluate the technologies available — or already deployed — to see how they can be optimized or replaced, if necessary, with systems offering greater functionality," he says. "There are numerous instances where legacy systems can be updated with newer technologies to deliver added functionality."

Don't be afraid of IP

A number of misconceptions surround IP-based solutions, says Mulli Diamant, vice president of sales, On-Net Surveillance Systems (OnSSI). First, is that they are more costly than other solutions; but Diamant says they are "extremely cost effective." Other misconceptions are that IP-based solutions are more difficult to implement or require more training to utilize, but he says those things are not true. Nor, he says, is it true that IP-based systems require more people to operate. In fact, he says the opposite is true.

Think about how and when video will be archived

One general misconception is that all recorded video surveillance data needs to be downloaded to DVDs for archiving, Abram points out. But, archiving data to DVD may not be required — depending on agency policy — especially if the video has no evidentiary value. When an agency needs to archive video on DVDs, there are digital recording solutions to make this convenient and easy, he says.

Realize there's a learning curve

Learning how to manipulate the cameras is not something that's instantaneous. Training is very important to maximize the benefits of a camera system, emphasizes Deputy Chief Brian Harvey of the Dallas (Texas) Police Department. For example, personnel monitoring cameras must know how to track an individual moving from the range of one camera to the next. It's also important for those monitoring the cameras to learn how to use the various software features. For example, it is helpful for personnel tasked with watching multiple images at once to know how to tell the software to give an alert when there is movement, such as a door opening to an historic building.

Everyone needs a good backbone

Anything without a good backbone suffers. Alan DeLoera, IT director for the City of Temple, Texas, says a proper network backbone ensures uninterrupted flow of video and data. Before purchasing new technology, Temple tested how many cameras they could put in a specific area and how they could get data in real time.

Prepare for the future

Sometimes when the goal is to install a new security camera system, there's no thought to adding other capabilities to a network or even adding more cameras later on. Gregg Levin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for BridgeWave Communications, says that's not good. "Put in a high enough performance backbone that it will scale for future applications," he says. "Putting in extra capacity doesn't cost much. Starting over when you find out you need more gets expensive."